Judgment Day For Those Who Preach 10 Commandments

June 22, 1999|By Steven Lubet. Steven Lubet is a law professor at the Northwestern University School of Law.

The House of Representatives recently approved a measure intended to permit the display of the 10 Commandments in every school in the country, as part of a bill aimed at reducing juvenile crime. The sponsor of the amendment, Republican Robert Aderholt of Alabama, said that posting the 10 Commandments would be "an important step to promote morality, and an end of children killing children." But the relationship between wall plaques and morality may not be quite so clear.

Judge Roy Moore of Etowah County, Ala., achieved national prominence when he hung a hand-carved plaque of the 10 Commandments on his courtroom wall and refused to take it down even when ordered to do so by another court.

Thousands of Alabamians rallied to his support and newspaper editorials praised him, from Massachusetts to California. Perhaps the ultimate encouragement came from Alabama's then-Gov. Fob James, who threatened to call out the National Guard to protect Judge Moore's plaque from the American Civil Liberties Union or the federal government (whichever foe he came across first).

Well, Fob James was defeated for re-election, but Judge Moore continued his crusade, traveling across the country to promote public displays of the Decalogue. "I think it underlies the need to acknowledge the providence of God," he explained. And as for the rights and sensitivities of religious minorities, well, Moore had an answer for that too: "The nation is founded on the motto `In God We Trust,' not `In Buddha We Trust.' " (One of his admirers, South Carolina state school board member Henry Jordan, put it more bluntly, saying "Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims.")

It turns out, though, that Judge Moore was doing more than rousing the faithful during his national tour, he also was raising money. Apparently, the judge set up a fund to finance the court battle over his display, but he may have been a trifle fast and loose in his use of the cash. On June 2, the Alabama Ethics Commission voted unanimously to refer Moore to state prosecutors for possible criminal action.

According to the director of the Alabama commission, the panel determined that Moore spent money from the fund on things other than his legal expenses and used the "mantle of his office" to help raise the money.

Of course, Judge Moore doesn't see it that way. "It's an attempt to stop the message about God," he said in a statement more revealing than he probably intended.

It seems that Moore cannot separate his faith from the requirements of the law. We can pretty safely assume that the Alabama Ethics Commission is neither a tool of the ACLU nor the advance guard of some creeping federal incursion, but Judge Moore sees their effort to investigate financial irregularities as an attack on the holy word. I guess you don't have to follow the ordinary law when you are spreading "the message about God." That is a dangerous doctrine in anyone's hands, but it is downright scary when it comes from a judge.

You see, the judicial system can accommodate judges who hold differing views on the separation of church and state, and we can even survive judges who occasionally stick their hands in the till. But we cannot long endure judges who refuse to draw a line between their personal religious beliefs and the law itself.

For all his fervor, Moore seems to have lost sight of at least one of the commandments that he keeps so conspicuously on his wall. And no, I don't mean "Thou shalt not steal." That would be prejudging his case--something that we should all avoid doing. Rather, the commandment I have in mind is one that might be even more fundamental: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."

Listen closely, Judge Moore. You are responsible for your own actions, and people who criticize or oppose you are not suppressing God's word. If you cannot agree with that simple proposition, then you should resign from the bench. The plaque on the wall doesn't seem to have helped.